HHS doesn't request background checks for juvenile illegal immigrants, says Biden admin official: Report



The Biden administration's Department of Health and Human Services does not request the criminal records of illegal immigrants under 18 years old, according to testimony provided by a senior HHS official, the New York Post recently reported.

Last June, Robin Dunn Marcos, an HHS official, told the House Judiciary Committee that the department does not request complete background check information for unaccompanied alien children. She testified that the HHS does contact the juvenile's home consulate or embassy to request some information.

'These policies have incentivized criminals.'

Marcos is the deputy assistant secretary for humanitarian services and the director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Administration for Children and Families at HHS.

A House Judiciary Committee member told Marcos, "Earlier you mentioned that [the Office of Refugee Resettlement] contacts the UAC consulate and the UAC's home country to verify date of birth, birth certificate of the UAC, and whether the UAC is suspected of being an adult in those types of contexts."

"What else does ORR verify with consulates? What other type of information?" the committee member asked.

In testimony obtained by the Post, Marcos responded, "I believe that it is birth certificates and identity documents."

When asked whether HHS requests "the criminal record in the home country from the consulate," Marcos responded, "We do not."

Unaccompanied children, which includes those under the age of 18, are transferred to the ORR's custody. The department is responsible for providing the minor with food, shelter, and medical care. The ORR is also tasked with finding a sponsor to care for the child while they are in the U.S.

The department has been repeatedly criticized for its handling of the illegal immigration crisis, particularly regarding how it selects sponsors for minors. The HHS has been accused of having a "culture of speed over safety."

HHS whistleblower Tara Lee Rodas claimed that the department "lost immediate contact" with 85,000 unaccompanied alien children after placing them with sponsors. She stated that some of the so-called vetted sponsors are "criminals and traffickers and members of Transnational Criminal Organizations."

As of fiscal year 2023, of the lost children, 70% were age 15 or older, the Post reported. Most of the juveniles were boys, it noted.

The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement issued a report on Monday that accused HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra of creating a "toxic situation" that endangers Americans and UACs.

"As the Committee and Subcommittee's oversight has shown, these policies have incentivized criminals, such as the MS-13-affiliated illegal alien who murdered Kayla Hamilton, to come to the southwest border, knowing they very likely will be released into the interior of the country. Tragically, the Biden Administration has failed to engage in necessary diligence in the case of the UAC that murdered Kayla Hamilton, instead doubling down on the very policies that enabled her murderer to roam free," the report read.

Hamilton, 20, was raped and killed by a 17-year-old MS-13 gang member who was allowed into the U.S. by DHS and placed in the custody of a sponsor. The suspect was previously arrested in his home country of El Salvador for his association with the gang. This information was only verified after Hamilton's murder, the committee's report noted.

When unlawfully crossing the border, some adult illegal aliens pose as children.

Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center, previously told Blaze News, "You'd be amazed how many are '17' when apprehended. With no verified ID, and with DHS having deliberately abandoned DNA testing and not doing bone-density or other methods, there is no way to be sure. This is a great way for transnational criminal organizations (gangs) like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to bring in members."

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Biden's HHS reportedly lost 85,000 migrant children — GOP lawmakers demand answers: Report



Republican lawmakers are demanding more information from the Department of Health and Human Services regarding the reportedly 85,000 unaccompanied alien children the agency can no longer locate, according to a Wednesday letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

What's the background?

In February 2023, the New York Times released an article that claimed the Biden administration's HHS, which is responsible for placing unaccompanied migrant children with sponsors, could no longer get in touch with tens of thousands of children. It noted that the agency is supposed to check in on the minors by calling them one month after they are placed with a U.S.-based sponsor. The report found that "over the last two years, the agency could not reach more than 85,000 children."

"Overall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children" placed in its care, the Times stated. Kamara Jones, an HHS spokesperson, reportedly told the news outlet that, with the influx of migrants coming across the southern border, the agency was pressured to find sponsors for the unaccompanied children quickly, which ultimately compromised their safety.

"There are numerous places along the process to continually ensure that a placement is in the best interest of the child," Jones told the Times.

Last month, a group of nearly two dozen Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray, and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra claiming that there is "reason to believe" some of the missing children are victims of trafficking, Fox News Digital reported.

"The United States needs to stop handing over children to 'probable traffickers,'" the AGs wrote, noting that HHS "loosened vetting procedures." They speculated that "thousands of children have now fallen victim to forced labor and sex trafficking."

HHS Office of Inspector General released a report in February that found "gaps" in the agency's sponsor screening process.

"In 16 percent of children's case files, one or more required sponsor safety checks lacked any documentation indicating that the checkers were conducted," the OIG reported. "For 19 percent of children who were released to sponsors with pending FBI fingerprint or State child abuse and neglect registry checks, children's case files were never updated with the results."

Earlier this month, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana also penned two letters, one to the Biden administration's Department of Labor and another to HHS, warning about the "upward trend in exploitative child labor." He blamed HHS for "relax[ing] sponsor vetting requirements."

Lawmakers demand action

On Wednesday, 10 Republican lawmakers, spearheaded by Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas, sent a joint letter to Becerra requesting additional information regarding HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement's process for approving sponsors and its efforts to ensure the children's safety.

The letter, obtained by the DCNF, read, "Amid the worst border invasion in our nation's history, it was reported last July that the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) lost contact with more than 85,000 children in sponsor care. Recently, an alarming report by the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) confirmed ORR is failing to fulfill various mandatory safety checks necessary to protect the safety and well-being of unaccompanied migrant children."

The lawmakers declared that HHS is "directly responsible for ensuring unaccompanied children are not lost, trafficked, or abused."

"One former border agent recounted witnessing traffickers 'providing' children to unrelated adults at the border, only for the adults to return those children to the traffickers after reaching their destination within the U.S.," the Republicans wrote.

Lawmakers demanded HHS answer several questions, including why the agency "remove[d] its citizenship requirement policy for UAC sponsors" and in what circumstances it does not require sponsor background checks.

"We are concerned that fraud surrounding UAC sponsorship is severe due to ORR's lackluster policies and procedures to verify a sponsor's identity and relationship to the child. Children apprehended, transported, and processed alone are not safe from human traffickers, who may pose as sponsors once migrant children are flown throughout the country by the federal government," the lawmakers stated.

The letter to Becerra was signed by several Republican representatives from Texas, including Gooden, Jake Ellzey, Brian Babin, Chip Roy, Beth Van Duyne, and Pete Sessions. Signatories also included Republican Reps. Clay Higgins from Louisiana, Diana Harshbarger from Tennessee, and Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman from Wisconsin.

Gooden posted on social media yesterday blaming Biden and his administration for the "intentional" border crisis.

"Joe Biden is responsible for the insurrection taking place at the southern border," he wrote.

HHS did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

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Border officials bracing for massive surge of unaccompanied children crossing US border in May after record-high February numbers



There were a record-high number of unaccompanied minors who crossed the southern border of the United States in February, but officials are preparing an even more robust number of unaccompanied children to attempt to enter into the U.S. in May.

A Health and Human Services official informed Axios, "We're seeing the highest February numbers that we've ever seen in the history of the [Unaccompanied Alien Child] program." The Unaccompanied Alien Child program was started in 2003 by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, and has "provided care for and found suitable sponsors for almost 409,585 unaccompanied minors."

The Wall Street Journal reported this week, "The number of unaccompanied immigrant children arrested for crossing the U.S. southern border illegally is on pace to rise more than 50% in February compared with the previous month, people familiar with the matter said, raising the prospect of a humanitarian crisis there."

The report said there have been about 2,200 children illegally crossing the U.S. southern border each week in February, increasing during each week. The government estimates that approximately 9,000 minors will be taken into custody by month's end.

February's figures are far higher than January when U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported taking 5,707 unaccompanied illegal immigrants under age 18 into custody, which was an increase of 18% compared to December.

Border officials anticipate that the number of unaccompanied minors will surge in May, with as many as 13,000 children attempting to enter the United States, which would eclipse the peak of the 2019 crisis. Axios reported that the CBP warned senior-level officials with the Department of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and the State Department about the potential humanitarian crises during a telephone meeting on Thursday.

With the influx of children, the Biden administration will need facilities capable of housing the minors. The HHS, which oversees the child shelter network, is reportedly working with the Pentagon to secure overflow sites such as military bases. Children could be housed in tent-like structures, which were previously utilized in 2014 and 2019. Housing is already stretched thin because the coronavirus pandemic has reduced capacity to comply with social distancing protocols.

The Miami Herald reported that the Biden administration plans to reopen the previously named Homestead Detention Center in Florida, which has been renamed as a much more pleasant-sounding Biscayne Influx Care Facility.

There were reportedly over 900 children at border patrol posts waiting to be transferred to a shelter on Friday, "100 of them waiting longer than the 72-hour limit allowed by law," a source told the WSJ.

"When the children can't be quickly sent to shelters, they remain in the custody of the Border Patrol," the Wall Street Journal reported. "Cells in Border Patrol facilities aren't designed to house children and its agents aren't trained to care for children."

"HHS's child migrant shelters were at 93 percent of their operational capacity but only 53 percent of the capacity funded by Congress," NBC News reported. "They were receiving an average of 252 new children a day last week, while they were able to discharge only 97."

On Monday, it was revealed that the Biden administration officially reopened a Texas housing facility for up to 700 migrant children along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Trump administration opened the facility for one month in 2019. The decision to reopen the facility enraged many Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Former President Donald Trump will make his first major public appearance at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday in Florida, where he is expected to take aim at President Joe Biden's immigration policies.